Automating Is The Key To Boosting Premium: Speaker

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Life insurers are continually looking for ways to leverage technology to improve conversions of leads into actual policies.

Technology brings the potential to speed up many aspects of our lives and that is a crucial benefit in the life insurance application process, said Ken Leibow, head of distribution technology and strategy/procurement for Global Bankers Insurance Group.

Leibow will lead a session today on “Quoting, Life eApplication and ePolicy” at the NAILBA36 Annual Conference.

Surveys show that most adults with families know they need life insurance and want to buy it. Yet, a persistent gap exists between those who say life insurance is a crucial planning tool and those who actually own life insurance.

A Princeton University survey this summer hit on one of the biggest issues. Thirty-three percent of respondents said shopping for life insurance is too difficult or confusing.

eApplications can remove that difficulty, Leibow said, and have yielded great success at closing policy sales. The key is to get the technology in the hands of agents, many of whom are busy and perhaps slow to adapt to new methods.

“It’s not new to them, but somehow it just gets lost and agents don’t get trained,” Leibow said. “What I hear from the vendors is ‘Yeah we’ve got it out there and we’ve done the training. But it’s not being taken advantage of.’”

Leibow shared two of the “tips and best practices” that are part of his session title. In the first, he recommends integrating processes as much as possible, from the first contact to the illustrations to the underwriting.

“Everything is just a nice smooth integrated process,” he said.

Second, Leibow suggests having an upsell component to the process. That could be something as simple as a quick calculation that informs agents to remind clients they could get $200,000 more in additional coverage for another $50 a month.

“In the direct marketing channel, that is very, very popular,” said Leibow, adding that 22 percent of clients in the direct marketing channel were upsold. “That leads to bigger premiums and higher commissions.”

There’s no secret to automating processes, Leibow said.

“When you automate, whether you’re doing a term ticket or accelerated underwriting, for as many days as you can accelerate, it improves your placement ratio, which is related to your bottom line,” he said.

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.